Christopher R Taylor

Yeah lousy story is lousy, no matter how its presented.

It should get good reviews at first at least no matter how good because it will look and sound really cool.  Then if its no good, people will later on go "you know, that was really kinda crappy."   Seems like that happens a lot lately.

I'm hoping its a suprise and well done.

Yeah, a movie could be made about Spider-Man using a sloth in a bright green costume set on the moon and someone on the internet would defend it, mocking anyone who found fault as a purist.

Hey did you hear?  Nathan Fillion is playing Simon Williams!

I would agree that avoiding too many Limitations is probably ideal, but I don't think Multipowers would be all that problematic, so long as the players don't see how the sausage gets made (so to speak). Just have all slots be fixed slots and all powers be powers that either have no combat utility or are attack powers. All they need to see is that they have the option of some list of attacks. They don't need to know why they have those attacks, in terms of building the character, they just need to know what they can do.

Right, the level of complexity of these looks more intimidating in the full character sheet than they will in the player sheet.  Stripped of all the modifiers and rules complexity, they are pretty simple characters.  The only concern is that a beginning GM needs to understand them as well and that's where some could probably be a bit simpler.  

Conceptually, Honey Badger makes a lot more sense with damage reduction/negation so he's not really super tough, just nothing much gets through.  But stripping it to just defenses makes the character a lot simpler.

Emphasize VERY beautiful.   Launched 1000 ships.  Caused gargantuan history-altering war.

I personally thought 4th was a high point for Hero in terms of the total package and presentation, but 5th was a better product in terms of rules and the actual game.  It was smoother, more complete, fixed some problems, brought new options and flexibility, and was a superior game product.  Its just not very well presented as a game, something fun and learnable.

I'd say its situational.  If someone pulls out a hand grenade or the dragon takes a deep breath, then characters should be able to recognize that's going to be an area effect attack and choose dive for cover.  If its just some weird alien with a ray gun, you have no clue in advance and have to just take your chances, the first time at least.

It wasn't a money issue. It was a density, complexity, and presentation issue.

 

Which just shows you how far perception can affect people.  The game was no more complex, the rules no more difficult to build a character, they just seemed more complex because of presentation and depth of explanation.  And that was enough.

Well I think we have to make a decision here: recognizable avatars and equivalents of existing characters, or being careful not to lock any one character into a single gender.  Because it can't really be both, can it?

I don't want to use any Hindu gods because oh, a bout a billion people worship them and that would be at best disrespectful, and a bit obscure.

A Booster Gold movie that plays up a jackwagon trying to get rich and famous and learning a powerful lesson about heroism would be terrific stuff.  I don't trust the grimdark misery fest of DC writers and producers to pull it off, though. He'd end up a goth trying to commit suicide with Skeets or something.

I could see Wonder Man being in the Avengers 2 parter, getting his origin in Guardians.  Exposure to one of the gems transforming him into energy, etc.

Here's one person's take on why a white British woman Ancient One (basically its what others have said here: China is a huge market, and mentioning Tibet angers them).

I did find that with my last game players responded better to having delayed experience given out in bigger chunks than a slow drizzle of small points.  10 points is easier to figure out something with than 3, for at least some players.  That feels more like a level up than a slow drizzle of a few points at a time.

Without identifiable characters, it's hard for players to know how good something is.  A lot of the characters shown so far are different enough from the source material that I don't know that it's going to be clear to new players who they are supposed to be.  I know we can't have copyright infringement, but I think Crusader was a closer Captain America analog than Patriot is.  Patriot carries a gun, which Cap doesn't (other than during WWII).  And I know that in the end, an Energy Blast is an Energy Blast, but that's not necessarily going to be clear to new players.  If anything, I'd say the characters listed so far are almost too original.

 

Its a tough line to work out.  I want them to be analogs of recognizable characters, but if they are too similar we run up against copyright problems.  I plan on the cover to be a basic duplicate of the Avengers poster (with the alternate characters in the pose) so its a bit easier to work out who's who and what we're dealing with, so that should help.  Its worth some thought, though.  I would think a super soldier, a god with a hammer, an armored bodyguard, and a guy with spider powers should be kind of clear without hammering people over the head, but maybe they could be more obvious.

I am going to work up some more streamlined, simple characters - in that case, they'll definitely have more skills because fewer, simpler powers = cheaper.

Hm so maybe we'll see Wonderman show up in Avengers 2 parter?  Something to do with one of the stones could turn him into a being of energy.

Watched Deadpool: hilarious and clever

Watched Jesse James Blacksmith: very interesting and nice back to basics concept

An alternative approach would be to divide one rule book into three sections: 1) the basic rules / player section, 2) a GM's vault with in-depth explanations / advice, 3) and examples. You could get started with section one and then expand with the others.

 

The problem with this is that you end up with another $75+ book.  The Hero ruleset was so expensive not because Steve gouged everyone, but because its expensive to print big books.  Having a smaller, simpler book then a big heavy one with all the stuff means you have a cheaper introduction to Hero.

So, now, basically, we have that with Champions/Fantasy Hero Complete and the big books.

If Apocalypse is also great, thats a bonus. 

 

Its good to have dreams.

Actually, I do (have a problem with it), for the Hero System anyway. It simply doesn't need, nor benefit from, such a model, IMO. 

So you're saying a simplified set of rules without all the careful explanations, details on how different modifiers interact with it, examples, and specific rules is a bad idea?  That having a separate book with all those rules for those who prefer them and need them also available is problematic and the Hero system would not benefit from this?  That's your position?

This gives the result of a large hole in the ground. This is both dramatic and in the style of a comic book.

I really like this answer.  Its simple, fast to work up, doesn't turn the character into soup, creates a huge crater, and is a great comic book moment.  If you want, you can have some layers be different materials (rock, clay, water, etc) and thus do different damage.

I agree, Vulcan needs to be more dusky and olive skinned.  But I think having just one character that's set is not going to exactly offend or horrify anyone, surely.

Actually an embodiment of The Old Soldier, from Astro City Comics...

That was my concept, but if people think someone who just gains powers in the time of need of a nation would be a more interesting or better build I'm all for it.

That's a LOT of experience to give over a really short time. It's kind of setting up GM's to disappoint the PC's when they aren't giving tons of experience per session.

 

Its a risk, but I think most players today are familiar with the idea of the tutorial that ramps them up through power rapidly to their intended power level.  And, since these are intended to be learner characters rather than ones people stay with (unless they really want to), its just a way of helping people get used to the concept of spending experience, building characters, and increasing complexity rather than a demonstration of the usual campaign pattern.  

It is worth having special notes for the GM to make sure the players understand this, though.

Well the playability, learnability, and intimidation factors all would have been better dealt with if, as many suggested in the forums here as 6th was being worked on, a big book with all the details and rules was made, and a stripped down more lean version for players was released as well.

Nobody has a problem with the Player's Handbook/DM Guide model.  They expect the GM to need more details and specific information.  Its an appealing approach, and Hero is really not all that complicated - certainly no more so than it was with 4th edition, when it comes down to actually playing and building characters.  There are just more options now and more specific, clear ways to different builds.  It just looks intimidating as heck.

100 points of experience usually takes 33weeks assuming weekly games to amass.

Correct, this would be an accelerated tutorial.  Read back the previous posts, we discussed the idea.

Also, there's no real reason that Vulcan has to be a man

Except for that's how the god is portrayed in every single instance of mythology, legend, and stories, so it would be weirdly forced to make him something else.  I figure since every single other character has a male and female version one is acceptable to not be binary.  People who cannot stand the idea of playing a guy have all those other choices.  Unless we decide to make Spellbinder always turn into a magic girl, an option I find very entertaining.

I must say that I agree with Tasha.  Some of the powers are far more complicated than a new user should be expected to grasp

I agree, and I'm going to go over them and lean them up a bit.  The simplified character sheets make them a lot easier to use but still they need toning down.

As for more skills; those can come in the experience blocs.  I am a big fan of characters "always having" abilities that never show up until later issues.  I mean, sure, Captain Keen might be a geologist, but its not until episode 4 when the rock monsters show up that he even uses the Geology skill.

I've noticed a pattern with early release reviews: they're dazzled by effects and spectacle, then later go "you know, it wasn't really all that great" too often.  But really good movies tend to get tepid reviews that later on get better.  Professional reviewers are usually a bit more objective and consistent.